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Allen Elementary School principal Joanna Bradley offers hugs, high fives and the chance for photos Tuesday while greeting students and their parents on what likely will be the final first day of school at Allen. Planning for the move to new grade-banded buildings in 2018-19 is among several things that will keep city schools' officials and staff busy over the coming school year. Robert McGraw/The Gazette

Allen Elementary School principal Joanna Bradley offers hugs, high fives and the chance for photos Tuesday while greeting students and their parents on what likely will be the final first day of school at Allen. Planning for the move to new grade-banded buildings in 2018-19 is among several things that will keep city schools' officials and staff busy over the coming school year.(Photo: Robert McGraw/The Gazette)Buy Photo

CHILLICOTHE - During a teacher in-service day last week, educators in the Chillicothe City Schools got a chance to experience firsthand some of the factors that cause students to become disruptive in the classroom.

Teachers gathered in the auditorium and were assigned a location to sit in a makeshift "classroom," assuming the role of students.

"They were moved around and pulled in and pulled out," Superintendent Jon Saxton said. "Some of our teachers were actually taken outside and told they had to stay outside like a suspended student. Some were taken back into a room and shown a video and given a worksheet, which sometimes happens with a student who's maybe on an IEP (individualized education program) or getting therapy or something like that.

"We had a group of people who sat in the first three rows and I taught the lesson, and I even told everybody there will be a test at the end and we simulated that activity. The groups that were moved in and out became very frustrated, they actually began acting out and several were acting out and didn't realize what was going on — they weren't part of the show."

The point of the exercise was to help teachers understand that even though they may not intentionally mean to, some of the actions they take can, in fact, encourage in some students the poor behavior they are trying to control. It's part of an equity initiative the district is beginning to pilot this year after some staff members attended a conference sponsored by Integrated Comprehensive Services, an entity that aims to eliminate inequities for all students.

The ICS initiative involves four cornerstones — a focus on equity, aligning staff and students, transforming teaching and learning and leveraging funding and policy. This year, Chillicothe will focus on that first cornerstone.

"We have, in schools and school systems and in classrooms, there are ways that students, unintentionally, get marginalized," Saxton said. "As a result, we think we're trying to deal with behavior by having a behavior plan, but actually some of the things we do are bringing on the student's poor behavior in the first place."

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Students on the first day of first grade get their pictures taken at Allen Elementary. (Photo: Robert McGraw/The Gazette)

The teacher in-service exercise was designed to emphasize that, as were remarks offered to teachers by a student who has experienced some of that frustration and through an event wrap up question offered by Saxton.

"I said, 'I'm going to list some things that happen that might have caused you at one point or another to feel like you were marginalized: Have you ever been bullied? Have you ever been cut from a team? Did you ever lose a loved one, a close family member? Were your parents divorced?'" Saxton said. "I went through about seven or eight things, and then the last one was 'Have you ever had a student who was any of those things?' Of course, the whole audience's hands went up."

The equity initiative will be running in conjunction with the second year of the district's Respect campaign, dubbed Respect 2.0. Some specialized data tied to student discipline from the inaugural Respect campaign has been broken down for closer analysis and some software has been purchased to help with response and communication of disciplinary issues.

The equity and respect initiatives are just two of several new or developing activities in the district. Others include:

Continued growth of the Keys to Success anti-drug campaign, entering the third and final year of its initial planned offering. Work is ongoing on ways to extend the program well beyond its initial run, and the goal for this year is to have 500 Chillicothe students signed up for Keys to Success and the countywide MADE drug-free clubs initiative.

A marked ramp-up in Science, Technology, Engineering and Technology (STEM) offerings. Dana Letts has transitioned over from the Union-Scioto Local Schools to take on the title of STEM instructional specialist for grades K through 6 for Chillicothe to work with teachers on integrating STEM instruction in their classrooms. Debbie Pentecost will integrate all four STEM areas in her program that will recycle students in grades 5 and 6 through each nine weeks, operating out of a double classroom with lab space and classroom instructional space. Tim Kennard will do STEM through a unified arts cycle at the middle school, and Lindsay Burns will do the middle school equivalent of what Pentecost is doing at the elementary. "We're trying to peak the interest of kids in STEM fields as early as possible so then they can make decisions about a 9-12 program, whether it's staying here, going to Pickaway-Ross or through College Credit Plus type of programs," Saxton said. A new staff member coming over from the career and technology center will be offering a course in coding and gaming at the high school this year that can be used to address real world situations.

Formation of a transition team made up of the district's teachers' association and members of the administration to begin looking at what will need to be done for a smooth transition next year from the existing neighborhood elementary buildings into the new grade-banded elementaries under construction. As students Tuesday experienced the final first day of school likely to take place at Allen, Worthington, Tiffin and Mt. Logan elementaries, Saxton said he fully expects the new K-2 building to be ready for the start of the 2018-19 school year and hopes for another mild winter that would help get the grades 3 through 6 building ready to open at the same time.

New personnel in some key positions. Dustin Weaver has assumed the high school principal's post from Jeff Fisher and Candace Platt has taken on the role of special services coordinator to work with the special education program.

The district gauging final enrollment numbers at the kindergarten level, with the 213 who registered prior to the start of school for kindergarten being a marked increase. Saxton said once the district has been able to determine how many of those 213 will actually be regular attendees, it can determine whether an additional teacher may be needed to reduce class size ratios.